Hawks Hope To Soar At State

Logan Peters will be a busy guy at state track and field meet

Troy Banning

Sports Editor

tbanning@freemanjournal.net

Competing for the South Hamilton boys’ track and field team at the state meet later this week will be (left to right) Quinton Grove, Josiah Brown, Logan Peters, Logan Klemp, Cole Berg and Freddie Lewis.
DFJ photo/Troy Banning

JEWELL — Hundreds of athletes will step onto the blue oval inside Drake Stadium this week and none of them will run more than South Hamilton junior Logan Peters.

Seriously. There will surely be some that will match Peters, but none will exceed him.

Peters will be a busy guy; he’ll compete in four events — the Class 2A 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, as well as the 4×800 relay. That’s 16 laps, four miles in all.

Catch up on your sleep now, kid. You’ll need it.

“It will be a fun experience running in four events, to do that is pretty cool,” Peters said during his preparations for the state track and field meet, which will get underway Thursday morning and run through Saturday afternoon. “I’m glad I’ll be able to get some rest on Friday, that will be a big day for me.”

Peters will kick his week off with two runs — the 3,200 and 4×800 — on Thursday. He’ll come back on Saturday for the 800 and 1,600.

But here’s the thing: Peters isn’t going to Des Moines just to participate. He wants to bring home medals. Not a medal. Medals, plural. And he should have a good shot to get it done.

“I think I have a shot to medal in all of my events,” he said. “I’d love to win, but if I run my race, I’ll be content with how I do.”

A state medalist in the mile as a freshman, Peters owns top-10 times in all three of his individual events. The school record holder in the 1,600 (4:33.24) and 3,200 (9:59.98), he’s out to lower those marks this week.

Peters sits with the fifth-fastest time in the mile and he’ll be chasing cross country rival Reece Smith of Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, who owns the top 2A time this spring of 4:30.14. Smith is also the leader in the two-mile and by a wide margin; his best time of 9:31.31 is 14 seconds ahead of his closest competitor.

Peters is particularly looking forward to the 800 Saturday morning, and he’d love nothing more than to leave Des Moines with that school record, too. His fastest time is 2:01.02, seventh-best in the class and three seconds away from the Hawks’ record.

“I can’t wait for the 800, I think that’s going to be the best race of the weekend,” Peters said. “I’ve never run a legitimate fast race like that, so it’s going to be fun.”

Even though his individual aspirations are high, Peters says his No. 1 priority will be Thursday evening’s 4×800 where South Hamilton is seeded seventh. The Hawks have run 8:25.59 this season; Pekin, a Drake Relays qualifier, leads the field at 7:59.05.

Alongside Quinton Grove, Cole Berg and Josiah Brown, Peters hopes he has a chance to get his teammates a medal on his anchor leg.

“To help those guys get a medal, that would mean a lot more to me,” Peters said. “The individual stuff comes later.”

Grove will join Peters in the 1,600 Saturday afternoon. A strong run alongside his teammate — Grove and Peters have been known to be quite competitive — could put him in line to contend for a medal as well.

Logan Klemp, a South Hamilton senior, will be looking for his second straight state medal in the 2A shot put Thursday afternoon. He was seventh a season ago and although he enters near the back of the field — his qualifying throw of 49-1 has him seeded 17th — Klemp knows he has a big throw in him.

“I’m excited to go out and compete,” Klemp, a University of Iowa football linebacker recruit who has added 20 pounds to his frame since early March, said. “I didn’t throw the best at (the state qualifying meet), but to be up in the 52- or 53-foot range is the goal.”

The South Hamilton girls’ track team will send its one state-qualifying event onto the track Thursday evening. Emily Greenfield, Bridgit Schlafke, Rylee Woodall and Hailey Cavan will compete in the shuttle hurdle relay.

The quartet set a school record (1:10.19) at the state qualifier and enter seeded 15th.

“Being able to set that mark and then make it (to state) is fantastic for the girls,” South Hamilton girls’ head coach Dan Brodie said. “Being about a second away from a potential top eight, I think there’s definitely something to work for this week, and I like our attitudes. We’re full of confidence right now, we just need to keep it rolling.”

Cavan serves as a steady anchor for the group. A state qualifier in the 100 hurdles a season ago, the sophomore should help to ease the nerves of her teammates.

“She’s been the person that we’ve leaned on all season long,” Brodie said of Cavan. “Her experience from last year is really going to carry her and she’s going to be able to lead the girls. When it comes down to it, we just have to show up and show out.”

Competing for the South Hamilton boys’ track and field team at the state meet later this week will be (left to right) Quinton Grove, Josiah Brown, Logan Peters, Logan Klemp, Cole Berg and Freddie Lewis.
DFJ photo/Troy Banning